Nakkertok once again hosted another Eastern Canadian Championships this past weekend, which was a great success. This year a record of over 830 skiers attended, including over 140 from Nakkertok, making it one of the largest ski events held in Canada. This year things started off with a classic sprint on Friday, an interval classic start on Saturday, and a skate pursuit on Sunday.

Friday dawned cold and clear, perfect conditions for a classic race. The men were slated to do 1.4km, and the women 1.3km. Ingrid and Sheila both made it into the heats, finishing 9th and 15th, respectively, in the qualifier. Sheila managed to ski all the way to the B final, where she ended up 10th for the day. The race was won by Maya MacIsaac-Jones, with Sophie Carrier Laforte in second, and visiting US skier, Anne Hart in third. In the men's race, Mark finished 34th, narrowly missing out on the heats.

Sheila and Anne Hart at the start of their quarterfinal (photo by Rob Smith)

Saturday brought on another perfect day for classic skiing, with firm, hard tracks and excellent grip. With over 130 open men, and 80 open women, the two categories took almost three hours to run to completion. In the men's 15km, Karl finished in 24th place, with Mark in 91st. The race was won by Andy Shields, with Ricardo Izquierdo-Bernier in second, and Russell Kennedy in third.

Mark skiing in a back during the 15km (photo by Rob Smith)

The women's 10km quickly followed the men's race. Much to everyone's amusement, Megan and Sheila managed to tie, down to the 10th of a second, for 11th place. Ingrid followed behind in 34th. The race was won by Anne Hart, followed by Sophie Carrier-Laforte, and Maya MacIsaac-Jones.

Ingrid with some sharp cornering technique (Photo by Rob Smith)

After clear conditions for the first two days, Sunday dawned with fresh snow on the ground, with more snow continually falling throughout the day. Sunday's 15km/20km skate was a pursuit start, with skiers starting based on their finishing times from the day before. Karl managed to move up to 20th position overall, with the 17th fastest time of the day. Mark finished 101st overall, in a hard fought 20km race. The overall pursuit was won by Russell Kennedy, followed by Andy Sheilds, and Nakkertok's own Dominique Moncion-Groulx.

Karl skiing through a snowy day to finish 20th (Photo by Dave McMahon)

Next up, the women raced through the soft powdery course for a 15km skate. Megan finished the day in 12th, and Sheila was close behind in 14th. Ingrid finished 28th, and Jessica had the 31st fastest time of the day.

Jessica freeskating in the powder (Photo by Rob Smith)

Megan determined to break her tie with Sheila (photo by Rob Smith)

XC Ottawa would like to thank all those who helped wax our skis this weekend: Riel Allan, Craig Storey, John Suuronen, and Justin Demers. In addition, an enormous thank you goes out to all the volunteers who once again pulled off an amazing Easterns!